Off-duty cop shot man nearly two years ago in N.E. Side drive-thru

Cheryl Jones, the mother of Marquise Jones, from left, his aunt, Debbie Bush, and his father, Blake Lamkin, grieve while his cousin Quintina Jones sings "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," during the 1st Year Angelversary for Jones at Chaco's in San Antonio on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015. Jones was shot by an off-duty SAPD officer in the drive-through at Chacho's on Perrin Beitel Road on Feb. 28, 2014.

Photo: Lisa Krantz / San Antonio Express-News

A Bexar County grand jury voted Wednesday against indicting an off-duty San Antonio police officer who shot and killed Marquise Jones in a restaurant drive-thru, a decision reached more than a year and 10 months after the incident.

Officer Robert Encina, a six-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department at the time of the fatal encounter Feb. 28, 2014, will not face criminal charges, according to a statement from Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood’s office.

“We took in all the evidence provided to us by the previous administration,” LaHood said Wednesday, including evidence provided by Jones’ family. “As is a fact in this office, we present everything to a grand jury.”

The fatal shooting occurred at Chacho’s & Chalucci’s in the 8600 block of Perrin Beitel Road. Encina had been directing a driver of one of two cars that had bumped into each other in the parking lot to turn off the vehicle when Jones exited from the passenger side of the car and displayed a handgun, according to police.

Encina fired at Jones, hitting him in the torso, police said.

After shots were fired, Jones tried to run away but collapsed, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“My sister feels like her heart’s been torn out of her chest again,” Bush said.

Members of Jones’ family disputed Encina’s account of the incident, saying instead that Jones had been trying to walk away when he was shot and that a gun was planted near him.

The decision comes after more than a year of vigils, demonstrations, protests and marches that began as a large-scale “die-in” at North Star Mall after the nationally covered deaths of two unarmed black men. The case was carried over from former District Attorney Susan Reed’s administration, LaHood said.

“I don’t worry about timelines. That should not be my concern as the district attorney. I worry about making sure that the process is fair in the presentation and to everybody involved in a grand jury,” he said. “That is one of the challenges when you take over a case as serious as this one. Was it done right? Is all the evidence there to be taken to a grand jury?”

It’s also the second case in an officer-involved shooting to receive a no bill in a week. On Dec. 9, two Bexar County sheriff’s deputies who fatally shot Gilbert Flores in August were no-billed.

“We respect the grand jury’s process, and we respect their decision,” SAPD Police Chief William McManus said in a statement.

By law, LaHood said he could not share specifics of Jones’ case. He stressed that it takes nine out of 12 people to indict, or “true bill,” someone. Otherwise, the default for not reaching nine votes is not to indict the person in question.

“We don’t know what the count was,” he said. “When they deliberate, we’re not in there. It could have been 8 to 4, 7 to 5. It needs to reach the nine votes required by law to indict.”

LaHood noted that his only involvement is deciding to take the decision to a grand jury. “It was the right thing to do,” he said.

According to Bush, the grand jury’s announcement was news to the family.

“They never contacted anybody. We heard it on the news,” Bush said.

In response, LaHood said his office’s division chief has been communicating with the family’s attorney, whom the office e-mailed prior to making the announcement public.

“All I can do is sincerely apologize to them for not getting a phone call. They should have,” LaHood said.

He added that his office plans to make sure to give ample time to parties involved before notifying media in the future.

Bush said the family plans to continue seeking justice.

“Just because he didn’t get indicted doesn’t mean we’re going to stop fighting,” she said. “We’re going to try and take it as high as we possibly can.”